Reindeer hunting in Greenland is of great importance to the Greenlandic Inuit and sports hunters, both residents and tourists.Trophy hunting in Greenland, Greenland Tourist Bureau. Retrieved 2010-17-12 Reindeer (caribou) are an important source of meat, and harvesting them has always played an important role in the history, culture, and traditions of the Greenlandic Inuit. Controlled hunting is important for the welfare of reindeer, the quality of life for Inuit, both as food, and part of their culture and Greenlandic culture in general, and the preservation of tundra grazing areas. Therefore, scientific research is regularly performed to determine the quotas needed to maintain a proper ecological balance.
Background
Reindeer hunting by humans has a long history. Caribou/wild reindeer "may well be the species of single greatest importance in the entire anthropological literature on hunting.""In North America and Eurasia the species has long been an important resource–in many areas the most important resource–for peoples inhabiting the northern boreal forest and tundra regions. Known human dependence on caribou/wild reindeer has a long history, beginning in the Middle Pleistocene (Banfield 1961:170; Kurtén 1968:170) and continuing to the present....The caribou/wild reindeer is thus an animal that has been a major resource for humans throughout a tremendous geographic area and across a time span of tens of thousands of years." Ernest S. Burch, Jr. The Caribou/Wild Reindeer as a Human Resource. American Antiquity, Vol. 37, No. 3 (Jul., 1972), pp. 339-368. Retrieved 2010-17-12
In Greenland, wild reindeer have been hunted as a source of food, clothing, shelter, and tools by the Inuit - the indigenous peoples that populate the Arctic and colder regions. Methods that they have employed include crossbow, bow and arrow, snares, driving, trapping pits, driving them off cliffs or into lakes and then spearing them from kayaks, and now using modern firearms. The entire reindeer, including fur, skin, antlers, and bones have been used. Their meat, viscera, internal organs, and even stomach contents, have all been utilized as food, both raw, dried, smoked, and cooked. Today reindeer are primarily hunted by residents and tourists for their meat, but mature animals may also be the objects of trophy hunting because of the often large size of their antlers. They have the largest antlers relative to body size among deer.New World Deer (Capriolinae) Retrieved 2010-17-12
In Greenland, more reindeer are harvested than any other big game land mammal species. Reindeer meat is an important staple in most households.
Game harvesting conditions in Greenland can be extreme, and the unpredictable forces of nature can be hazardous to hunters. Greenland is large and long with differing hunting customs and regulations, as well as weather patterns, depending on the region and season. The Greenland wilderness is sensitive and hunters are expected to respect it and "leave nothing but footprints."
Inuit identity: hunting and reindeer
Cultural status of the hunting experience
Hunting has always been an extremely important aspect of the Greenland Inuit culture:
"The Inuit culture is the most pure hunting culture in existence. Having adapted to the extreme living conditions in the High Arctic of the North American continent for at least four thousand years, Inuit are not even hunter-gatherers. Inuit are hunters, pure and simple." (Henriette Rasmussen, Minister in Greenland Home Rule Government)Rasmussen H. Sustainable Greenland and Indigenous Ideals. Henriette Rasmussen, Minister of Culture, Education, Science and Church of the Government of Greenland. Retrieved 2010-17-12
Even today hunting's importance is confirmed by the Greenland Home Rule Government:
"Hunting is the heart and soul of Greenlandic culture.... Hunting is also very important from a cultural perspective. In a society such as Greenland, which for centuries was based on subsistence hunting (until about fifty years ago), hunting is still of great cultural importance. Irrespective of the fact that most live like wage-earners in a modern industrial society, many Greenlanders identity is still deeply rooted in the hunting."Hunting in Greenland. - Greenland Home Rule Government.
Reindeer hunting has a special status in the populace. Shooting a muskox provides four times as much meat as a reindeer, but "Greenlanders would much rather have caribou or reindeer meat than musk ox meat," says Josefine Nymand.Caribou and muskoxen are meat and adventure. - The Danish-Greenlandic Environmental Cooperation.
"... the experience is just as important [as the meat]. It is simply the most wonderful part of the year. The trips in for the caribou hunt in the beautiful autumn weather have a great social and physical meaning for people's wellbeing. It has many functions." (Peter Nielsen, Head of Office at the Ministry of Environment and Nature)
Inuit welfare and hunting culture
The long history of mutual dependence between humans and reindeer necessitates continuing efforts to safeguard their relationship and the welfare of both parties. Reindeer hunting – which is also commonplace in many other parts of the world – is considered so vital to the cultural heritage of certain groups that there is an attempt - Reindeer hunting as world heritage. Retrieved 2010-17-12 - Reindeer hunting as world heritage. Retrieved 2010-17-12 - Reindeer hunting as world heritage. Retrieved 2010-17-12 being made to get it placed on UNESCO's World Heritage List.UNESCO's World Heritage List. - UNESCO Retrieved 2010-17-12
The identity of the Inuit is closely tied to the geography, history and the attitudes toward hunting – "For Inuit, ecology, hunting and culture are synonymous."Wenzel G. "Animal Rights, Human Rights: Ecology, Economy and Ideology in the Canadian Arctic" (1991). – and their identity as hunters is under attack. Those attacks are "... viewed in the Arctic as a direct assault on culture, identity as well as sustainable use,"Ethics and morality. - Dept. of Economic Development and Transportation, Nunavut Territory and Inuit are reacting:
"... for the Inuit, animal rights campaigns are just the latest in a long litany of religious, industry, and government policies imposed by outsiders – policies which ignore Inuit values and realities, and threaten the survival of one of the world's last remaining aboriginal hunting cultures."Alan Herscovici. Forgotten Story: The impact of "animal-rights" campaigns on the Inuit. - National Council for Science and the Environment
Therefore, the circumpolar peoples and their organizations are actively engaged in attempts to protect their welfare, identity, interests, and culture, including their hunting culture. The "Kuujjuaq Declaration"The Kuujjuaq Declaration. - Inuit Circumpolar Conference addressed perceived attacks on their autonomy and rights, and recommended that the Inuit Circumpolar Conference (now the Inuit Circumpolar Council) "undertake a comprehensive study on how best to address global forces, such as the 'animal rights' and other destructive movements that aim to destroy Inuit sustainable use of living resources, and to report back to the next General Assembly on its findings."Kuujjuaq Declaration: Proceedings of ICC's 9th General Assembly, 11–16 August 2002. Inuit Circumpolar Conference (Canada) The International Arctic Science Committee shares these viewpoints and therefore one of its objectives is to study the "sustainable use of living resources of high value to Arctic residents."Objectives of International Arctic Science Committee. - ProClim: Forum for Climate and Global Change; Forum of the Swiss Academy of Sciences
Reindeer welfare, sustainability, and quotas
Biologists and other research scientists constantly monitor the welfare, living conditions, and health of reindeer, as well as the ecological health of their habitat, and they make recommendations and set quotas designed to ensure that game resources and natural biodiversity are protected, managed, and maintained.Scientists elsewhere do the same thing: "To guarantee rational use of this population and meet interests of both Taimyr and Evenki Autonomous Areas, federal bodies are responsible for fixing science-substantiated quotas for wild reindeer hunting." Christine Cuyler. Appendix B: Greenland Caribou / Reindeer. - Greenland Institute of Natural ResourcesL. Christine Cuyler & Lars Witting. Caribou harvest advice 2006. - Greenland Institute of Natural Resources Many factors, some of them difficult to measure or predict, are analyzed including natural cycles, parasites, disease, short-term weather conditions (relative harshness of winter or summer), long-term climate changes, and condition of food sources. Hunting is not the only factor affecting reindeer welfare, but it is one area that can be managed to some degree.
Since reindeer in southwestern Greenland have no naturally occurring non-human predators,Christine Cuyler. Appendix B: Greenland Caribou / Reindeer. "The primary distribution, 74 percent of total abundance, is in West Greenland (61°-69°N), which may by roughly identified as the southern half of Greenland's west coast. No wolves (Canis lupus) or other potential predators (non-human) have existed in West Greenland for at least the last few hundred years." - Greenland Institute of Natural ResourcesCuyler, et al. Status of two West Greenland Caribou populations 2005. "Caribou (Rangifer tarandus groenlandicus) have no natural predators in WestGreenland, and none have existed for several hundred years (Dawes et al. 1986). When combined with their high fertility (Cuyler & Østegaard 2005) and recruitment (Cuyler et al. 2002, 2003, 2004), this would suggest that overabundance may be their greatest threat. Several boom and crash cycles of caribou in West Greenland have been noted since the 1700s (Vibe 1967, Meldgaard 1986), and recent population estimates are the highest ever documented, indicating that a new crash might be expected in the near future." - Technical Report No. 61, 2005. Greenland Institute of Natural Resources harvesting quotas are established to help regulate the number of reindeer in an area and prevent overgrazing and death from starvation. During the winter, the great effort of pawing down (known as "cratering")"In the winter, the fleshy pads on these toes grow longer and form a tough, hornlike rim. Caribou use these large, sharp-edged hooves to dig through the snow and uncover the lichens that sustain them in winter months. Biologists call this activity "cratering" because of the crater-like cavity the caribou's hooves leave in the snow." - Project Caribou through the snow to their favorite food, a lichen known as reindeer moss, can cost them too many calories in expended energy, causing them to lose strength and die.Bror Saitton. Sammendrag av foredrag ved NORs 12. nordiske forskningskonferanse om rein og reindrift. - Nordic Council for Reindeer Husbandry Research (NOR)Overpopulation of reindeer in Greenland, 2005. - UPI, Dec. 9, 2005. PhysOrg.comReindeer hunting in Greenland. - PITU, no. 1, September 2002, pp. 15-16. Grønlands Naturinstitut (Nature Institute of Greenland). Without human monitoring and regulation, mass starvation of reindeer would be a recurring problem.